The present invention concerns a sling strap intended to allow the lifting and handling of objects or loads particularly with the help of appropriate machines such as gantry cranes, hoists etc.
Sling straps are conventionally made up from metal shackles around which the ends of the straps are secured by stitching. Such straps are far from being totally satisfactory, due to relatively long delays in delivery and manufacture connected with the obligatory use in the factory of a sewing machine and, above all, due to the fact that, once sewn, the length of the strap is fixed, and offers no possibility of adjustment; it is therefore always necessary to have in stock a lot of sling straps of different lengths, which also considerably increases their manufacturing cost.
Moreover, the act of sewing leads to a certain amount of deterioration of the strap due to the thread being cut by the switching. This in turn leads to a diminution in the maximum working load.
It is therefore one object of the present invention to overcome these deficiencies by providing a sling strap made up of a flat strap and at least one rigid shackle stirrup fixed to at least one of the ends of the strap, which can be set in place, without stitching, and whose length may be adjusted almost instantly, without requiring any tools. In addition, it is desirable that such sling strap have a resistance to tension at least equal to that of the arrangements used in the prior art.